President Muhammadu Buhari’s return to Nigeria will be based on the approval of his doctors in the United Kingdom.
This much was contained in the president’s letter to the Nigerian Senate, dated 5th February which has only just made its way to the public.
The Presidency and the Nigerian Senate had earlier given snippets from the letter when Buhari’s return was shifted from the earlier date of February 5th and extended indefinitely.
In the letter informing the upper chambers of the National Assembly of the indefinite extension of his vacation and conferring powers on Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to continue to act as president, Buhari said the date of his return would be determined by doctors after some undisclosed tests.
The full text of the letter was published by Premium Times on Saturday. A portion of it reads:
“Further to my letter dated 18th January 2017 in which I notified the Distinguished Senate of taking part of my annual leave.
“During my leave, I took the opportunity to have routine check-ups and consult my long standing doctors in London.
“In the course of the routine examinations, certain test result indicated the need for a course of medications and further appointments have been scheduled for next week.
“I am therefore notifying the Distinguished Senate that I am extending my leave until the doctors are satisfied that certain factors are ruled out. In the circumstances, the vice president will continue to act on my behalf.”
It is the third time Buhari has travelled out of the country and handed over to Prof Osinbajo.
There were some insinuations in the past few days that Buhari’s return to the country could be expedited to prevent him from losing grip of power.
Some analysts also suggested that Prof Osinbajo had begun to act like he was truly in charge as acting president unlike in times past where he seemed to shy away from making authoritative policy statements and decisions in Buhari’s absence.
